英语论文网

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Conclusion

Although Dunbar is extremely confined by the dominating literary tradition, hestill expresses anironicinversion towardthetraditionanduttersthevoiceof theAfricanAmerican at the turn of the twentieth century. Unlike other African American writerswho attributethe causes of theblack criminality to the urbanization, Dunbar asserts thatJoe’s monstrosity begins in the South, and the urban life only accelerates it. The noveloffers no possibility for Joe to redeem himself or hide from the games of the gods. Infact, his fate rests in the control of the white racism. This thesis mainly focuses on thepenetration of white racism among blacks and pays attention to the intraracialcontainment for theblackracial uplift consciousnessat theendof thenineteenth century.

As a writer with keen observation, Dunbar observes several factors that cause thedifficulties for the development of black racial uplift consciousness. In the novel,Dunbar not only criticizes the paternity and racism of the white authority, he alsoreveals that it is the conservative blacks themselves who prevent the racial progress.The southern conservative blacks symbolize a community that is disciplined by whitesupremacy. They embrace the idea that the blacks should bend themselves to the whiteauthority.Theyregard Joe,whobelongsto theblackmiddleclass, asasubversivefigurewhich challenges the southern plantation tradition. Thus, they prevent his pursuit ofuplift to maintainthebalancebetweenthewhitesandtheblacksin theSouth. Moreover,Dunbar notices that the urban black bohemia culture also has negative impacts on theblack elites’pursuit of moral uplift. The black bohemians are depicted as idle parasitesthat cause Joe’s downfall directly by their enticement of hedonism and prevailingdiscourse of criminality. Last but not least, he also pays close attention to thepsychological degradation caused by the female mulatto, for which both accelerate themonstrosity of the blacks and contains the marginal blacks’ attempts to improve theirsocial status.

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